A data acquisition system is a collection of software and hardware that lets you measure or control physical characteristics of something in the real world. A typical system consists of:

• Data acquisition (DAQ) hardware
• Sensors and actuators
• Signal conditioning hardware
• A computer running DAQ software

You can build these systems using popular DAQ hardware. An effective workflow includes analyzing data as you collect it and acquiring data from a wide variety of supported DAQ hardware. For more information, see Data Acquisition Toolbox.